Senior boxer - fitting

Previously posted about my friends old girl losing muscle/ slight control of her back end. She has started fitting now. After the first one she went to the vet who said 'nothing you can do, bloods would be inconclusive, see how she goes'

She has since had the odd one then a cluster over a few days then they stopped for about a week then shes had another cluster late tuesday night/weds morning (nothing since and is bright and bubbly today)

Her owner is obviously upset but the vet said ' its not epilepsy as its a new thing so prob her brain and nothing they can do' So she is resigned to the fact that if she fits again she will take her to the vet and have her put to sleep.

Is there anything the vet can give her? If she was going down hill I could understand putting her down but in between fits she is her usual self running round like a loon with her wild boxer x friend being gobby and cheeky.

Hi Dobermonkey

Has the vet not thought about medicating this dog? If she's having frequent clusters this can take a toll on her, mentally and physically and I would have thought the vet would offer phenobarbital and/or potassium bromide to stop her having them.

I don't understand because even if she is "old", she shouldn't have to put up with frequent seizures if they can be reduced or even stopped. Is he concerned with her coping with drug side effects?

I would go to a different vet and get a second opinion.

Agree with lucky star.

Some Boxers do take fits, its worth a second opinion.

I would agree with Lucky Star but it might be that the vet is unwilling to do tests to establish the cause, in order to know what it is, and so how to treat it?

Bloods may or may not be inconclusive i.e. they may well show nothing, but a poor renal or hepatic result could indicate poor blood filtration and the poor cleaning of endogenously (internally) produced toxins can result in fitting. Some blood results also indicate inflammation which can also be implicated in fitting.

Fitting and epilepsy are necessarily not the same thing (there can be other causes of fits), but epilepsy is in the brain so I am a bit confused about that.

I would consider another vet. There may be other issues we are unaware of, such as the owner's financial position, but it sounds as though this vet may be taking an "Oh she's old, what do you expect" attitude?

Thanks guys

I spoke with her at the weekend and said that if i was her i would take her back to the vet (ideally a diff one) and ask for medication.

I think finances come into it to a certain extent ie she thinks that as the vet said it will prob be a brain thing' she immediately thought she would have to have scans etc which she simply couldnt afford.

I mentioned Pb as an example and she has said if/when she fits again she will take her to the vet and ask about it/make a decision. Trouble is her friend who takes her to the vet (very ex ex boyfriend) is not mr optimistic. when i spoke to her and asked if she had taken her back to the vet (said she was taking her Friday after recent cluster) she said she hadnt as he had reminded her that 'the vet said that blood would be inconclusive so there wasnt anything they could do'

I saw her out of the window on sat wobbling round the park happy as larry, poor old girl. Being honest with myself I dont think she will be going back to the vets to seek help bless her

our first boxer Della had fits they started out once every so often, the vet didn't think it warrented treatment as she didn't have them often enough, it wasn't until later in life we found out she had an enlarged heart this made the fits worse, she lost a lot of weight too vet said it was her heart that caused the weight loss too. they gave her some heart tabs which helped until it was her time to leave for the bridge. Might be worth an x-ray to see if it's her heart?
Brings back memories of my lovely first boxer, do hope they can get her some treatment so she can be comfortable